Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist – June 24

In the Gospel that Luke wrote, he tells the story of the birth of John the Baptist. His parents, Zachariah the priest and Elizabeth his wife, pious Jews, like Abraham and Sarah, suffered because they had no children. At the beginning of the Gospel, Luke tells about the annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Zachariah during his service in the Temple: a child will be born to his aged wife. The angel reveals a part of the vocation of this child to his father: "He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:15-17). Zachariah has a hard time believing the words of the angel and as a sign of his hesitation, he remains dumb until the birth of his son, John.

During the time of Elizabeth's pregnancy, Mary mother of Jesus comes to visit the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth. She too carries in her womb a child that will be born in supernatural circumstances. In the moving encounter between these two pregnant women, an aged woman too old to give birth and a young woman who cannot give birth because she has not known any man, the two sons meet, each one still in the womb of his mother. Elizabeth then reveals to Mary that John has already begun to play his role as the one who runs before Jesus, preparing his way. "For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy" (Luke 1:44). John prepared his mother to receive the Lord and his mother into her home.

After a short time, Elizabeth gives birth to her son John and she calls him by his name while her husband remains stricken dumb. The relatives are amazed when Zachariah confirms the choice of name made by his wife. Then Zachariah's tongue is loosened and he can prophecy great things for his newborn son: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:76-79).

According to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born in Ein Karem, near Jerusalem. At the time of the murder of the babies, ordered by Herod, Elizabeth fled with the child into the Judean hills (today the Monastery of Saint John in the Desert, alongside the moshav of Even Sapir, commemorates this). When the time will come, John will go to the Jordan in order to baptize the people awaiting the Messiah.